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The Epstein–Barr virus M81 strain, isolated from a nasopharyngeal carcinoma, induces potent spontaneous virus production in infected B cells. We found that the M81 non-coding Epstein–Barr-encoded RNA EBER2, which carries polymorphisms that are mainly restricted to viruses found in endemic nasopharyngeal carcinomas, markedly stimulated this process. M81 EBER2 increased CXCL8 expression, and this chemokine enhanced spontaneous lytic replication levels in M81-infected B cells. Both events resulted from the endocytosis of extracellular vesicles containing EBER2 that were generated by neighbouring M81-infected B cells, thereby generating a paracrine loop. These effects were strictly dependent on a functional Toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7), a sensor of single-stranded RNA located in the endosome of these cells. These unique properties of M81 EBER2 could be ascribed to its unusually high expression level and to the ability of its single-stranded region to activate TLR7; both of these properties were dependent on M81-specific polymorphisms. Thus, M81 induced chronic inflammation in its target cells and this resulted in increased virus production. These observations provide a mechanistic molecular link between M81 virus replication—a central viral function and a cancer risk factor—and the production of a chemokine involved in inflammation and carcinogenesis. The non-coding RNA EBER2 of the Epstein–Barr virus M81 strain potentiates virus lytic replication in B cells by generating a paracrine loop whereby the chemokine CXCL8 is released from infected cells via extracellular vesicles—which are taken up by neighbouring cells—thereby enhancing its own expression.

Exchange bias, a shift in the hysteresis loop of a ferromagnet arising from interfacial exchange coupling between adjacent ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic layers, is an integral part of spintronic devices. Here, we show that spin–orbit torque generated from spin current, a promising approach to switch the ferromagnetic magnetization of next-generation magnetic random access memory, can also be used to manipulate the exchange bias. Applying current pulses to a Pt/Co/IrMn trilayer causes concurrent switching of ferromagnetic magnetization and exchange bias, but with different underlying mechanisms. This implies that the ferromagnetic magnetization and exchange bias can be manipulated independently. Our work demonstrates that spin–orbit torque in ferromagnet/antiferromagnet heterostructures facilitates independent manipulations of distinct magnetic properties, motivating innovative designs for future spintronics devices. Spin–orbit torque is used to control the magnetic exchange bias in a Pt/Co/IrMn trilayer.

To investigate the evolution of lung function in preterm infants with and without bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and to determine the perinatal characteristics associated with indexes of lung function in later infancy. Longitudinal lung function assessments were performed at approximately 6, 12, 18, and 24 months of corrected age in preterm infants. Perinatal characteristics were further analyzed to ascertain the determinants of lung function indexes. Although all preterm infants (n = 121; 61 without BPD and 60 with BPD) exhibited decreased lung function in early infancy (6 months of age), after body length was adjusted for, only infants with BPD exhibited poor performance. Furthermore, the lung function of infants with mild to moderate BPD caught up gradually, but the generally poor lung function performance of infants with severe BPD, especially in forced expiratory flow, persisted until later age (24 months). Regarding perinatal characteristics, the z-score of body length at the time of examination and total number of days on positive-pressure ventilation are the major determinants of lung function in later infancy.

Few studies have addressed the mother-to-child transmission of Th2 immunity and the impact on the development of atopic diseases in early childhood. We investigated 186 children who were followed-up regularly for 4 years in a birth cohort study. The levels of Th2 related chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 17 (CCL17) and CCL22 were quantified in cord blood and at 1.5 years-of-age using multiplex Luminex kits. The levels of 125 pairs of CCL17 and CCL22 chemokines from birth to 1.5 years were recorded in this study. Using K-means clustering, only the declining trend of CCL22 levels was separately clustered (cluster A, n = 51; cluster B, n = 46; cluster C, n = 28). Mothers of children with higher CCL22 chemokine levels at birth were significantly more likely to display Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus sensitization. A lower CCL22 level at birth with a slight rise during infancy was associated with higher prevalence of mite sensitization and a higher risk of asthma at 3 years-of-age (P = 0.014). In conclusion, low mother-to-child Th2-associated chemokine CCL22 levels appear to be inversely related to mite sensitization and the risk of asthma development in early childhood.

The relationship between cesarean section (CS) and allergic disorders such as asthma and wheezing has been inconsistent, and the mechanisms for their connection remained largely unknown. We aimed to investigate whether CS is associated with infantile wheeze and to explore the connection between CS and several risk factors known to correlate with allergy development. Mononuclear cells were isolated from cord blood and assessed for cytokine responses by ELISA. Bacteria from nasopharyngeal specimens were identified with traditional culture methods. Infant lung function tests were performed at 6 and 12 months of age. IgE levels and clinical outcomes were assessed at 12 months. The result showed that children delivered by CS were associated with increased risk of wheezing (aHR 1.63; 95% CI: 1.01–2.62) and decreased compliance of the respiratory system at 12 months (p = 0.045). In addition, CS was associated with reduced TLR1–2- triggered TNF-α and IL-6 responses at birth. By12 months of age, children delivered by CS had significantly less airway bacterial clearance. Our findings suggested that CS was associated with decreased pro-inflammatory cytokine response to TLR1–2 stimulation, followed by higher abundance of bacterial colonization in the airway during late infancy, thus increasing the risk of infantile wheezing.

Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP) is a rare pulmonary disease in which the abnormalities in alveolar surfactant accumulation are caused by impairments of GM-CSF pathway attributing to defects in a variety of genes. However, hereditary PAP is extremely uncommon and a detailed understanding in the genetic inheritance of PAP in a family may provide timely diagnosis, treatment and proper intervention including genetic consultation. Here, we described a comprehensive analysis of genome and gene expression for a family containing one affected child with a diagnosis of PAP and two other healthy siblings. Family-based whole-genome analysis revealed a homozygous deletion that disrupts CSF2RA, CRLF2, and IL3RA gene in the pseudoautosomal region of the X chromosome in the affected child and one of asymptomatic siblings. Further functional pathway analysis of differentially expressed genes in IL-1β-treated peripheral blood mononuclear cells highlighted the insufficiency of immune response in the child with PAP, especially the protection against bacterial infection. Collectively, our results reveal a novel allele as the genetic determinant of a family with PAP and provide insights into variable expressivity and incomplete penetrance of this rare disease, which will be helpful for proper genetic consultation and prompt treatment to avoid mortality and morbidity.

Primary spontaneous pneumothorax (PSP) is not uncommon, and its recurrence is often a challenging clinical problem. Surgical management and predisposing factors for the recurrence of PSP, however, have not yet been well elucidated in adolescent patients. The major aim of this study was to investigate factors associated with proceeding to surgical intervention and recurrence of PSP in adolescents. Two hundred and nineteen episodes of PSP in 171 adolescent patients were retrospectively reviewed. The clinical and radiological spectrum of PSP and factors for proceeding to surgical intervention were assessed in these 171 patients. Risk factors for the recurrence of PSP were further analyzed in 128 patients with first attack of PSP. The male-to-female ratio of the 171 PSP patients was 9:1, and the mean age was 17.6 ± 1.5 years. The median body mass index (BMI) percentile was 11 (range 2–31), and 45 (34 %) patients had underweight BMI. The incidence of recurrent PSP was high with a total recurrence rate of 21 %. Ipsilateral recurrence rate of PSP after video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) was much less than that of the conservative treatment (4 vs. 18 %). A large-size pneumothorax with a persistent air leak was the most significant factor for proceeding to VATS surgery (P = 0.001). In addition, it was a significant factor influencing the recurrence of PSP (P = 0.014). Other factors that did not significantly affect the recurrence rate were BMI, smoking status, and the number of bullae. Conclusion: Adolescent PSP has a high recurrence rate of 21 % after a 2-year follow-up. A large-size pneumothorax with a persistent air leak may not only lead to surgical intervention but also the risk of a recurrence of PSP. The initial size of pneumothorax may not only guide the management process but also predict the risk of a recurrence in adolescent patients with PSP.

In this paper, we present an example-based method to estimate the aging process of a human face. To tackle the difficulty of collecting considerable chronological photos of individuals, we utilize a two-layer strategy. Based on a sparse aging database, an EM-PCA-based algorithm with the personal guidance vector is first applied to conjecture the temporal variations of a target face. Since the subspace-based prediction may not preserve detailed creases, we propose synthesizing facial details with a separate texture dataset. Besides automatic simulation, the proposed framework can also include further guidance, e.g., parents' impact vector or users' indication of wrinkles. Our estimated results can improve feature point positions and user evaluation demonstrates that the two-layer approach provides more reasonable aging prediction.

In this paper, an efficient deformation framework is presented for skeleton-driven polygonal characters. Standard solutions, such as linear blend skinning, focus on primary deformations and require intensive user adjustment. We propose constructing a lattice of cubic cells embracing the input surface mesh. Based on the lattice, our system automatically propagates smooth skinning weights from bones to drive the surface primary deformation, and it rectifies the over-compressed regions by volume preservation. The secondary deformation is, in the meanwhile, generated by the lattice shape matching with dynamic particles. The proposed framework can generate both low- and high-frequency surface motions such as muscle deformation and vibrations with few user interventions. Our results demonstrate that the proposed lattice-based method is liable to GPU computation, and it is adequate to real-time character animation.

In the preparation of copper interconnects in the conductor pattern of a printed circuit board (PCB), wet etching processes are commonly adopted for creating patterns of high-density interconnects. Currently available techniques of immersion and spray etching could lead to poorly shaped wires due to complex flow fields or the disturbing puddling effect. A modified technique of arrayed jet-stream etching was developed in this work, aiming at producing well-defined copper interconnects on a PCB in a significantly shorter time. The results were appealing in that copper interconnects of 35/140 μm (thickness/width) exhibiting etching factors of greater than 6 were obtained in 20 s, much better than the conventional ones with etching factors of 3 to 5 and etching times of at least 2 min. In addition, uniformly etched copper interconnects with less than 20 μm undercuts were observed on one etching line. One additional point to note is that no banking agents or inhibitors as commonly seen in conventional etching techniques were needed in this new processing method.

943 An Analysis of Different Treatment Strategies for Catheterrelated Sepsis in Neonates with Percutaneously Inserted Central Venous Catheter: Removal or Not?